Right as one member of the Iamaleava family left the transfer portal, another has entered — with both brothers set for the same destination.
Arkansas quarterback Madden Iamaleava, the younger brother of Tennessee-turned-UCLA quarterback Nico Iamaleava, plans to enter the transfer portal, according to a report Monday from CBS Sports.
Madden Iamaleava has informed the Arkansas coaching staff that he plans to join his older brother at UCLA, according to a report from ESPN’s Chris Low.
Madden Iamaleava was an early enrollee with the Razorbacks who just completed spring practice with the program ahead of what would have been his freshman season. The younger Iamaleava brother was a four-star recruit in the 2025 class, according to 247Sports’ composite rankings. The 6-foot-3, 191-pound passer was the No. 22 quarterback and No. 271 overall player in his class.
He committed to and signed with Arkansas last December before enrolling in January. He had committed to UCLA last May before decommitting in December.
As a high school junior, Madden Iamaleava threw for more than 3,600 yards, along with 43 touchdowns and just four interceptions. He was declared ineligible for what would have been his senior year of high school football after transferring from Warren High School in California to Long Beach Polytechnic.
Madden Iamaleava’s move came just one day after his older brother announced his commitment to UCLA after a contentious and high-profile split with Tennessee, where he was the starting quarterback last season for a Vols team that made the College Football Playoff.
Nico Iamaleava’s abrupt and unexpected exit came after he missed a spring practice while he was reportedly in negotiations with the program over his name, image and likeness deal. Iamaleava, who had been slated to make $2.2 million in the last year of a four-year contract he signed with a Tennessee NIL collective his senior year of high school, was reportedly seeking $4 million.
Madden Iamaleava’s anticipated cross-country move caps off a busy 36 hours for the UCLA quarterback room. On Monday, shortly after Nico Iamaleava’s commitment to UCLA, Joey Aguilar, an Appalachian State transfer who signed with the Bruins in December, entered the portal. By the end of the day, he had found a new home, with ESPN reporting he plans to sign with Tennessee, completing a quarterback trade few, if any, could have seen coming two weeks earlier.
